August 1, 2014

  Sixty five years ago in 1949, Charlie Barry was the 20 lap feature winner at the Buffalo Civic Center.

  Sixty years ago in 1954 rain prevailed for the second week in a row, wiping out both nights of racing at the New London Waterford Speedbowl.

  Fifty five years ago in 1959, George Janoski made it three in a row on the dirt at Stafford Springs. Bill Slater and the V-8 were in top form winning the Wednesday night 25 lap Sportsman feature at the New London Waterford Speedbowl. Charlie Webster was the non-Ford winner and Ben Hewitt was the Bomber feature winner. Ted Stack was the Saturday night Sportsman winner at the Speedbowl. Tom Sutcliff was the non-Ford winner and Walt Dombrowski was the Bomber winner at the Connecticut shoreline oval. Bill Rafter won a 50 lapper at the Buffalo Civic Stadium.

  Fifty years ago in 1964, Steady Eddie Flemke led the Eastern Bandits to Fort Dix [New Egypt] Speedway in New Jersey where he won a 100 lap Modified National Championship event. Other weekend winners were Pete Corey at Fonda, Wally Dallenbach at Old Bridge and Jim Hendrickson at Islip. Bill Dennis won a 100 lap NASCAR Modified event at the Old Dominon Speedway in Virginia. Ernie Gahan ended Bill Wimble's streak at six on the dirt at Stafford Springs. George Janoski and Kenny Shoemaker finished second and third. Ray Delisle was the Modified winner and Ed Gladue was the Bomber winner at the New London-Waterford Speedbowl.

  Forty five years ago in 1969, Stafford ran a 100 lapper with Nathan "Smokey" Boutwell in the Garuti-Arute No.14 taking the win. Bob Santos in the Art Barry 909 finished second and was followed by Jerry Cook, Freddie Schulz and Jim Hurtibuis in the Bob Judkins 2x.At the Albany-Saratoga Speedway, Maynard Forette took the win over Lou Lazzaro and Ron Narducci. Saturday night at Norwood saw Freddie Schulz in the Dick Armstrong No.14 take the win. Bob Melnick finished second. Daring Dick Caso made it two in a row in Modified competition at Waterford. Wayne “Mysterious” Smith was the Daredevil winner. At Fonda, Jerry Cook got a win. Lazzaro finished second and was followed by Rene Charland and Kenny Shoemaker. At Islip it was Lou Hennessy over Jim Hendrickson and at Airborne Park it rained. Merv Treichler was the 30 lap Modified winner at the Lancaster Speedway in western New York. Boutwell made it two for two on the weekend as he won at Thompson on Sunday night. Fred DeSarro in his own No.00 finished second with Leo Cleary in the Koszela 15, third. Double points were on tap at Utica-Rome on Sunday and Lazzaro was there to take the gold. Bugsy Stevens finished second with Dick Clark, third.

  Forty years ago in 1974, Riverhead ran on Thursday with Charlie Jarzombek taking the win over Fred Harbach. Racing at Freeport on Friday, rained out and on Saturday at Islip, Lou Hennessy again finished ahead of Hendrickson. Stafford ran a 100-lap double point event on Saturday night with Ronnie Bouchard in the Bob Johnson 17 beating out Bugsy Stevens in the Koszela 15. Dick Watson won the 30 lap Modified main at Waterford. Ron Cote was the Grand American late model winner. Shangri-La also ran a 100 lapper and it was Richie Evans over Dave Nichols. Utica-Rome ran a Trenton qualifier and it was Geoff Bodine taking the top spot with Evans settling for second.

  Thirty five years ago in 1979, Geoff Bodine was at Stafford, on Friday night, in the Lee Allard No.99 and cleaned house. Dick Caso finished second with Ed Flemke, third. Bodine had also won two nights earlier as he beat out Charlie Jarzombek and Jeff Fuller. New Egypt also ran on Wednesday. Jerry Cook turned the tables on Richie Evans as he took the win. Like Bodine did in New England, Cook repeated on Friday night as he won at Spencer. Maynard Troyer finished second with Doug Hewitt, third. At Seekonk on Saturday night, Ronnie Bouchard took the top spot over Eddie St Angelo. Charlie Jarzombek took the win at Islip and Ronnie Rocco made it two in a row at Plainville. Other weekend winners were Reggie Ruggiero at Monadnock, George Kent at Shangri-La, Jack Bateman at Claremont, Rick Donnelly at Waterford and Ronnie Bouchard at Thompson. As a side note, during the running of the strictly stock feature at Monadnock an out of control competitor with a stuck throttle flew through the pit area and did considerable damage to a truck owned by Brian Ross.

  Thirty years ago in 1984, the Thompson Speedway ran their 300 outside pole qualifier on Wednesday night. George Kent took the win over Richie Evans and Jim Spencer. Stafford ran a 100 lapper on Friday night, which saw Brett Bodine get the best of Reggie Ruggiero for the win. At Spencer it was Doug Hewitt and at Riverhead, Don Howe won a 75-lap Circle of Champions event over Jim Spencer and Bill Park. Waterford hosted twin 25's on Saturday night with Bob Potter and Dickie Doo Ceravolo sharing the top spot. Also on Saturday, a 150-lap Circle of Champion’s event was run at Islip. Tiger Tom Baldwin used his home track advantage and took the win. Bob Park was second with Wayne Anderson, third.

  Twenty five years ago in 1989, Teddy and Mike Christopher finished one-two in SK modified action at Stafford on Friday night. Dan Avery won at Monadnock over Dwight Jarvis. The mod Tour was at Riverside with Ruggiero taking the win over Mike Stefanik and at Riverhead, Bill Park took the win over Chris Young.

  Twenty years ago in 1994, John Sneade was the Wednesday night SK winner at Thompson. Scott Poirier and Mike Christopher followed but were disqualified because of illegal cylinder heads. At Stafford on Friday night, Mike Paquette took the win over Bo Gunning and Steve Chowanski. The Mod Tour Series was at Holland on Saturday night and it was Jeff Fuller taking the top spot. Mike Ewanitsko finished second and was followed by Bruce Dell, Steve Park and Ricky Fuller. Waterford ran a 125 lapper with Jeff Pearl scoring a big win over Todd Ceravolo, Dave Gada and Mike Gada. On lap six of the event, Jim Broderick and Vinnie Anglace tangled, collecting Larry Lanphear, Dennis Gada and Dennis Gada. Gada's gas tank was ripped open and a bad fire erupted. No one was hurt but the cars of Lanphear and Gada were destroyed in the fire. Lou Lazzaro got his 112th career win at Fonda and Tom Tillotson went pole to pole at Riverhead. Riverside saw Chris Kopec in victory lane.

  Fifteen years ago, in 1999, Curt Brainard made it two in a row at Stafford. Tommy Fox finished second. At Waterford Dennis Gada won the feature over Ed Dachenhausen. The action was just as hot off the track as it was on as race director Tony Lecky walked out after a difference of opinion could not be settled between himself and track operator, Terry Eames. At Riverside it was Jim Broderick over Ricky Miller. The Featherlite Modified Tour was at Loudon along with the Busch North Series and Craftsman Trucks. The mods and BGN's drew 19000 while the trucks had a real light crowd. Tony Hirschman took the lead from Jan Leaty with 11 to go and went on to take the 100-lap victory. Ted Christopher finished second with Mike Ewanitsko, third. Tom Carey was the Busch North winner.

  Ten Years ago in 2004, the NASCAR Featherlite Modified Tour was at the Seekonk Speedway on Saturday night. For the better part of the 2004 season Chuck Hossfeld had been in a slump. Hossfeld broke the chain on Saturday night as he won the Coca-Cola 150 at the track known as the cement palace. Hossfeld qualified fourth behind Busch Pole sitter Don Lia. Hossfeld re-drew third and after following early leader Eric Beers for 67 laps took the lead and went on for the eventual win. Beers faded to fourth at the finish as Don Lia and Dick Houlihan moved into the top three. Jeff Malave rounded out the top five. The event, the only one at Seekonk for 2004, drew 39 Modifieds and an almost packed house. Championship contender Eddie Flemke Jr. suffered a major setback after being involved in two separate incidents. The second one, on lap 102, did him in as he hit the wall and ended up exiting the track on the business end of a wrecker. Flemke ended up in 26th spot. Tony Hirschman, who had been chasing Flemke all season, survived an early race tangle and came back to finish 10th and gained enough points to take the lead. Flemke led the troops as the tour prepared to head to Long Island. Rick Fuller, John Blewett III, Ted Christopher, Bob Santos III and Hirschman rounded out the top ten at the finish of the event. Four caution periods for 27 laps kept the average speed at 62.243 mph.

  The Busch North Series was at the Adirondack Speedway in up state New York Saturday night. Matt Kobyluck took the win over defending series champion Andy Santerre.

  In Thursday night Thunder at the Thompson Speedway Kerry Malone made it two in a row in the Sunoco SK-type modified division. Malone took the lead after an early restart and despite a lot of pressure from Ted Christopher and Bo Gunning was able to cruise to the win. Christopher was a little down on power and put most of his efforts into racing with Gunning who ended up settling for third. Christopher finished second. Bert Marvin and Jeff Malave rounded out the top five. Todd Ceravolo, who was contending for the point lead, suffered a setback as his engine blew mid-way in the event. Joe Lemay held off David Berghman to won the Pro Stock feature and Larry Barnett took the top spot in Limited Sportsman action. Corey Hutchings won his fourth Late Model feature and Scott Michalski was the top dog in Mini-Stock competition.

  Ted Christopher continued his hot streak as he won the 31st annual Coors Light 100 at Stafford on Friday night. Christopher, who now had four in a row at Stafford, drove a somewhat conservative race as he took the lead from pole sitter Steve Chowanski on lap 56. James Civali, who had been the only driver to break Christopher’s win streak in the last seven events finished second. Willie Hardie finished third with Chuck Docherty and Woody Pitkat rounding out the top five. Chowanski ended up 23rd and defending race winner Eric Berndt ended up 24th. Chris Matthews was the late model winner and Eric Grant won the 15-lap Dare Stock feature.

  It was Nostalgia Weekend at the Waterford Speedbowl on Saturday night. Many big names from years gone by were on hand. A tip of the hat to Tom Ormsby and Pete Zanardi who spent countless hours putting the program together. In racing action at the shoreline oval Ron Yuhas Jr. ended a long dry spell as he garnered his first SK Modified feature win of the year. It wasn’t easy as it took close to an hour to run the 35-lap feature that was slowed numerous times for various wrecks and spins. In the end Yuhas endured. James Civali, who led until lap 23, finished second. Dennis Gada, Rob Janovic and Jeff Pearl rounded out the top five. Larry Goss of North Windham won the Late Model feature over Corey Hutchings and Jay Lozyniak was the victor in the Sportsman division. A new competitor by the name of Mike Manifold outpaced Richard Brooks to win the Mini-Stock feature. Many were wondering if Manifold was a relative of Rex Kahrs or Will Fade!

  The Nextel Cup and the Busch Racing Series divisions of NASCAR were in action. The Busch Series visited the Pikes Peak Raceway in Colorado and the Nextel Cup division was at the Pocono International Raceway in Pennsylvania. Greg Biffle raced in both events. At Pikes Peak he went from last to first as he recorded a win. At Pocono in the Nextel Cup Pennsylvania 500 Biffle settled for fourth. Jimmie Johnson dominated the event as he won, hands down. Mark Martin finished second but had nothing for the winner. Kasey Kahne finished up in third spot.

  On the speedway stock market scene, the big news was that Boundless Motorsports settled their differences with former World of Outlaws President Ted Johnson and that Boundless had finally closed the deal for complete ownership of the DIRT organization. Boundless Motorsports shares closed out the week at 3.50.

  Five years ago in 2009, It was damned if you do and damned if you don’t sometimes in racing. On Thursday night at the Thompson Speedway Drivers Meeting Mike Chapman, the new Competition Director (Traffic Cop), again addressed the drivers telling them that rough driving, taking out the leader, would not be tolerated. Keith Rocco, who has been at the center of some of the more aggressive driving asked Chapman if it was ok to “move” a competitor out of the way as long as you didn’t force him to crash. Chapman’s answer was, “Test Me and you will find out”. During the running of the first of the two 30 lap Sunoco (SK type) Modified Rocco found himself crashed into the concrete wall between turns one and two after coming in contact with Ted Christopher. From his vantage point in the officials tower Chapman made the call to put Christopher to the rear for what looked like a deliberate move. In all honesty that’s the way it looked! After listening to a conversation between a driver, who was behind the pair, with his crew chief, it was said that Rocco had over corrected after bouncing off of Christopher’s nerf bar and had crashed himself into the wall. With six laps left Christopher came back to finish seventh. Woody Pitkat ended up taking the win over Danny Cates, Jimmy Blewett and Todd Ceravolo. Rocco ended up in 15th spot. Chapman’s second call of the night was to put Super Late Model competitor Rick Fuller to the rear for “Playing Games” on numerous restarts. Fuller was not happy but that’s the way the mop flops sometime!

  Kerry Malone won the second 30 lap Sunoco Modified event that went off without incident. Malone started on the outside pole and led wire to wire. Ted Christopher finished second. Keith Rocco finished third after his crew thrashed to replace his entire right front suspension that had been severely damaged. Woody Pitkat had the misfortune of having his engine blow.

  All in all, it was a great night of racing that was completely over by 9:15pm. A very strong crowd was on hand. It was announced that Bob Duval from NASCAR was on hand. If he was there he made like the invisible man!

  Other Thursday night Thunder winners at Thompson were Tim Taylor in the Mini Stocks Norm Wrenn in the Super Late Models, John Materas in the Late Models, Chris “Mouse” Douton in the Limited Sportsman and Brian Tagg in the TIS Modifieds.

  The NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour closed out their “Summer Break as they converged on the Riverhead Raceway on Long Island on Saturday night, August 1. Ryan Preece, driving the Mighty No.3 of the Boehler family went pole to pole to win the 150 lap event. Preece, who was also the Coors Light Pole sitter had the car that no one could catch. Ted Christopher was an early threat. His efforts came to an end on lap 83 when he sustained suspension damage after hitting the wall. His 20th place finish cost him the series point lead which is now held by Todd Szegedy who finished 8th. Because of the fact that the Riverhead event had a sub-standard purse, $54,035, there were only 15 Whelen Tour Modified regulars on hand. Riverhead regular Dave Brigati finished in the second spot with Howie Brode, third. Justin Bonsignore finished fourth with Glen Reen rounding out the top five.

  Had it not been for the fact that the Riverhead regulars and a few of the True Value competitors made up the field the car count would have been light. Many of those who previously supported the tour decided to stay home rather than be guaranteed to lose money. In many cases NASCAR and the tracks brag about their race purses. There was no mention of the total purse until after the event was run. Like in Christopher’s case, many of the tour regulars on hand had less than good days. Mike Stefanik finished 19th with a broken radiator while Donnie Lia finished 23rd and Ron Silk finished 27th with blown engines.

  Lou Modestino reported that the New Hampshire Motor Speedway appeared to be a choice of the Indy Racing League to get one of those events in 2010, according to the Union Leader of Manchester, N.H. It’s all due to the fact that the Milwaukee Mile is in financial trouble and owes the IRL a significant sum of money, which is unpaid for an event held there just after this year’s Indy 500. The Union Leader also reported that NHMS would like the IRL date to fall between the first NASCAR Nextel Cup date of July 3 and the second Cup date of Sept. 12 of 2010. The Milwaukee Mile also owes a considerable sum to NASCAR which recently sanctioned a Nationwide Series event.

  At the Waterford Speedbowl, Rob Janovic Jr. and Ernie Bertrand were first time winners in the SK Modified and Late Model divisions respectively, while it was Al Stone III winning his fourth Street Stock event, Allen Coates continuing his unbeaten streak in the Trucks, and Curt D’addario Sr. winning the X-Car race. The Modified, Late Model, and Street Stock point battles were all shaken up following the completion of their feature events. Rob Janovic Jr. and Tyler Chadwick brought the SK Modified field to green, with Waterford native Janovic moving out front on lap one. Ledyard’s Chadwick tucked in behind Janovic and stayed on the leader’s bumper. Salem drivers Corey Hutchings and Dennis Gada joined Ledyard’s Jeff Paul and points leader Keith Rocco in a tight pack dicing for position behind the top two. Rocco, moved to fourth on lap five then moved inside Hutchings for third by time the field completed lap nine. Up front Janovic wasn’t able to shake free from Chadwick. The pair raced together several car lengths in front of Rocco who was moving in after taking over the third spot. Paul was holding off Gada for fourth further back.

  The field continued racing under green through halfway. Rocco had reached the leaders, beginning to pressure Chadwick for second on lap 20. The event’s first caution waved on lap 21 for Norwich’s Tom Abele who spun off turn four. On the restart Janovic held the advantage by the time the field reached turn one. Rocco was able to move into second past Chadwick and started to pressure Janovic for the top spot. Rocco’s top points competitor, Ron Yuhas Jr. of Groton, emerged into the top five with 12 laps remaining. He immediately made an inside move on Paul for fourth. Glenn Griswold of Vernon spun off the front stretch as Rocco darted inside Janovic with seven laps remaining. The move would have given Rocco the lead, however caution waved for the Griswold machine stranded on the apron of turn one.

  The ensuing restart was pivotal in the outcome of the event and points battle. Janovic again took over by turn one on the restart, while Rocco looked to build momentum in the outside lane. Chadwick was intent on challenging the leaders from third. Contact into turn three resulted in Rocco spinning around and the cars of Rocco, Chadwick and Hutchings pummeling the turn three wall. Rocco and Chadwick were both done for the night, while Hutchings was able to resume from the rear after heading to the pits. From there, Janovic prevailed on the final restart over Yuhas to go on to his first victory in over a year. Yuhas finished second and was able to close the points gap to within four points of Rocco. Past champions Janovic and Gada were also able to close within striking distance. Paul, Gada, and Pearl rounded out the top five finishers in the race.

  Making his SK Modified debut was Jeffrey Gallup. Gallup is the son of Richie Gallup who was a terror in the SK Modified ranks years ago.
The inaugural Nationwide Series race at Iowa Speedway came down to a two-man battle between points leader Kyle Busch and top series regular Brad Keselowski. Keselowski passed Busch with eight laps left and held on to win for his fourth career NNS win.

  In Nextel Cup action, Denny Hamlin dominated the triangle Pocono Raceway track like few others have, taking the checkered flag on Monday to snap a 50-race winless streak and win there for the third time in eight career starts. The race had been delayed a day because of rain. Clint Bowyer was third. Sam Hornish Jr. was fourth for his best finish in a Cup car, and Kasey Kahne was fifth.

  Last Year, 2013, Thursday night Thunder at the Thompson Speedway was cancelled due to rain for the second week in a row. Thursday marked the third time this year weather has effected the Valenti Modified Racing Series at Thompson. The division was scheduled to run a feature at the track on May 19, but that was cancelled because of rain.

  Sunoco Modified competitor Dennis Perry was at the speedway and gave this report. "Went to Thompson today to grab a couple trucks and wow have they torn it up. Will be interesting to see how they run the show next week as there is barely any tar or grass in the pit area. The only tar is in the line where they have the tours pit and the road out back is all dirt now. Guess we will all be going old school and pitting in the dirt again. Just hope the idiots who come off the track ticked off don't tear up the dirt roads so the nose on the mods drag".

  At the Stafford Motor Speedway on Friday night the Whelen Modified Tour Series was in town. Doug Coby brought back fond memories of Geoff Bodine and Ray Hendrick who raced at Stafford back then and would lap the field on their way to victory. Coby did just that with a dominating run that put him in victory lane and back in contention to defend his series title. Ryan Preece, who continues to lead the point standings went from the penthouse to the outhouse on the next to last lap as he went from second spot to 16th after incurring a flat tire which resulted in a spin.

  Donnie Lia, who has had a so-so season in the Mystic Missile reaped the benefits of Preece's misfortune as he inherited the runner-up spot. Ted Christopher, pole sitter Bobby Santos and Ron Silk rounded out the top five. Coby's performance was so strong he was able to lap all but the top seven. following Silk on the lead lap was Eric Goodale and Woody Pitkat. Rounding out the top ten and down a lap were Mike Stefanik, Cole Powel and Ron Yuhas Jr. There were 26 Modifieds on hand for the event that drew a standing room only crowd.

  In other Friday night action at Stafford, Eric Berndt was a first time winner on the season in the 40-lap SK Modified® feature, Adam Gray extended his streak of consecutive podium finishes to 11 with his fourth win of the season in the 30-lap Late Model feature, Ronnie Williams took down his second win in the 20-lap SK Light Modified feature, Albert Saunders claimed his second win in the 20-lap Limited Late Model feature, and Brandon Michael scored his first win of the season in the 15-lap DARE Stock feature.

  Like Coby, Berndt reaped the benefits of Ryan Preece's misfortune. Preece was the class of the SK Modified field but was the victim of contact and ultimately a spin by Dan Avery. It was a possible payback as Preece had moved Avery out of his way earlier in the event.

  The Valenti Modified Racing Series returned to action Saturday at Beech Ridge Motor Speedway in Scarborough, Me. Steve Masse took the lead with seven laps to go and went on to win the 100 lapper. Anthony Nocella finished second with Chris Pasteryak, third. Richard Savory and Rowan Pennink rounded out the top five.

  Masse started on the pole and led the first 63 laps before giving way to David Pinkham in a restart on lap 64. Pinkham led through lap 92 and then faded to finish 9th.

  Action at the Waterford Speedbowl saw Diego Monahan go pole to pole, but had to survive nine caution flags before winning the 35-lap SK Modified feature. Other winners in the Speedbowl's weekly NASCAR Whelen All-American Series were Keith Rocco in the Late Model feature, Bill Leonard in the Mini Stock race and Corey Barry in the SK Light Modified feature.

  Monahan was lucky to be out front of a wild SK Modified race. In addition to the nine caution flags, Monahan had to endure 13 restart attempts. Point leaders Rocco and Todd Ceravolo of Gales Ferry found themselves among the lead pack only to meet misfortune over the event. Rocco spun off turn four on lap 11, restarted at the rear and worked back up to the front only to get caught up in another incident battling Tyler Chadwick for third on lap 21. After pitting for a flat left rear tire, Rocco got back into contention for the win and had the final shot at Monahan on the final restart with two laps remaining. He lined up outside of Monahan, but couldn't find any traction in the top groove of the track and Monahan went on to record his first win since 2007. Rocco finished in second while Ceravolo rebounded from a spin on lap-17 to come back for third.

  Down in the south land at the Bowman Gray Stadium in Winston-Salem, NC twin 50's for the NASCAR Modifieds were run on Friday night and the NASCAR Southern Modified Tour visited on Saturday night.

  Tim Brown, who registered his 69th career victory and is two away from matching Junior Miller’s record total, held off challenges by Dean Ward, who was the fastest qualifier for the first time this season, and then Burt Myers to win the first 50 lapper. In the second 50 lapper, Jason Myers survived a three-lap drag race with pole-sitter Tommy Neal and then fended off challenges from Danny Bohn through four more restarts on the way to his fourth victory of the season and 14th overall.

  Ryan Preece usually competes at the Riverhead Raceway on Long Island on Saturday nights. This week he turned right instead of turning left at the Bronx-Whitestone Bridge exit as he headed to North Carolina. The 700 plus mile drive paid off as he won the pole starting position and after leading all 199 laps at the flat quarter mile speedway, recorded his first win in NASCAR’s Whelen Southern Modified Tour. Preece survived nine restarts and was able to outdistance Burt Myers who finished second.

  Canadian driver Cole Powell finished third for the second straight year in the tour race at Bowman Gray. Danny Bohn was fourth, and Tim Brown fifth. Woody Pitkat, who also made the the 12 hour trip, fell on misfortune and finished 19th.

  At the Riverhead Raceway on Long Island twin 30's were run for the Modifieds. Timmy Solomito and Howie Brode took the wins.

  Brad Keselowski overcame an early pit road penalty and overheating issues to win Saturday’s NASCAR Nationwide Series U.S. Cellular 250 at Iowa Speedway.

  Kasey Kahne beat out Jeff Gordon in the Pocono Sprint Cup event.

  Tony Stewart's championship chances were officially over for the season. The three-time NASCAR champion broke his right leg Monday night at Southern Iowa Speedway in Oskaloosa, where he flipped his 360 winged sprint car while leading with five laps remaining in the 30-lap feature.

  That’s about it for this week from 11 Gardner Drive, Westerly, and R.I.02891. Ring my chimes at 401-596-5467. E-mail: smithpe_97_97@yahoo.com.

Phil Smith has been a columnist for Speedway Scene and various
other publications for over 3 decades.

Looking Back Archive

Source: Phil Smith / Looking Back A Bit
Posted: August 1, 2014